Plug-In to a Computer Remote Access System Piqua OH

Today there are technologies that enable real-time access to applications and files that reside remotely without having the application actually reside on your local machine. Together, they are loosely referred to as Remote Access thin client applications, in that they don’t take a fat amount of space or processing power on your local machine.

Plug-In to a Computer Remote Access System

I recently found myself on a business trip with my laptop and realized that I needed some critical files from my office machine.

I normally replicate everything between my desktop and laptop and then onto an external hard disk drive, which I then store in a fire safe bolted to the slab of my home for disaster recovery purposes. I also always travel with an 80GB portable drive for just this purpose. I’m prepared, right? Wrong. Life being what it is, I didn’t have these particular files available. However, even though I was a thousand miles from the office I still had a way to get to my files…

Remote Access to your Home or office PC Today there are technologies that enable real-time access to applications and files that reside remotely without having the application actually reside on your local machine. Together, they are loosely referred to as Remote Access thin client applications, in that they don’t take a fat amount of space or processing power on your local machine. Simply put, you can think of this type of remote access as a series of screenshots of some fat application on some remote and powerful machine (in your office, for example) that are transferred over the Internet to your own machine (the laptop in your hotel room). You point, type, and click as you normally do, and these keyboard and mouse commands are then transferred back over the Internet to the server machine and run the application remotely.

Actually, many applications run this way now, though most people aren’t aware of it. Have you ever used Outlook WebAccess? Have you filled out your timesheet over the Internet? Ever seen that little CITRIX icon on your desktop? These are thin client applications that enable this whole process.

As I wrote last year in these pages, many of these applications also enable multiple users to access the same machine remotely, increasing collaboration, centralizing the location of critical files (accounts, designs and concepts) for backup, and enabling the use of lower cost “production” machines for your remote teams while minimizing the need for heavy duty “server” machines at the home or office.

How it Works On my office machine, I had previously subscribed to a well know remote access system. Make sure you square this with your local IT guys first because they probably already have CITRIX licenses for this purpose. Mine didn’t, but the IT guys were fine with it. The cost is less than $20 a month, and for me it is worth every penny. When I travel, I leave it on, with the screen password-locked. When I’m not in the office, I just access the Internet from my laptop (or once, from the Internet-enabled machine at a hotel in Asia) and access the remote access system’s web site log-in screen. After a couple of seconds, I see a screenshot of my office machine. I can print, transfer files, search, and run anything tha...

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